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Sharp Linking Up With England For Trent Bridge TestTuesday, July 11th, 2017

Kevin Sharp will link up with new England skipper Joe Root for the second time in a week when he assists with preparations for the Second Investec Test with South Africa at Trent Bridge.

Worcestershire Batting Coach-Second Eleven Coach Sharp will meet up with the England squad for two days ahead of the Test which gets underway on Friday (July 14).

Last week Sharp fulfilled a pact made when coaching Root as a youngster when he went to watch him play for England – at Lord's – and witnessed a century in his first match as captain.

His two-day association with England follows on from Director Of Cricket Steve Rhodes who was chosen to join up for the two Test series in Bangladesh last winter after a previous spell with the England Lions in the UAE.

Rhodes said: "It's something they do. They invite all the coaches along, different personnel. It is a positive two fold – 1) for the coaches themselves to experience a bit of international preparation and 2) for the likes of Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace to get to know the county coaches a little bit more.

"That's the reason they do it. They've gone through all the counties and invited all the coaches here and there. I've done a couple myself and I think it is a really great idea.

"It's a great accolade to go and be involved there.

"It is very much an observational session or two. You are there to watch, experience, learn and even Kevin, with his experience, will be learning a lot from seeing the guys work."

Rhodes revealed Worcestershire are adopting a similar policy at New Road. He said: "It is something we are actually doing with our age group coaches as well.

"We are bringing them along to county games, sitting them with us, and showing them what we do.

"It enables us just to get to know them a little bit but also to give them experience.

"Based on that idea with England, we've taken that a stage with Worcestershire and everyone benefits."